Mexico’s Congress today confirmed Eduardo Medina Mora, the former attorney general and envoy to the U.K., as the nation’s next ambassador to the U.S. Medina Mora, who served as Mexico’s top legal official when President Enrique Pena Nieto’s predecessor, Felipe Calderon, started the nation’s war on drug cartels in 2006, will replace Arturo Sarukhan, whom Calderon sent to Washington.

Medina Mora is also a cousin of Manuel Medina-Mora, who was named a co-president of Citigroup Inc. this week and was previously head of Banamex, the lender’s Mexican unit. The selection of Medina Mora shows the importance of U.S. cooperation in turning the tide on Mexico’s war on drug cartels that resulted in more than 58,000 deaths under Calderon, said Jorge Chabat, a political science professor at the Mexico City-based Center for Economic Research and Teaching. Medina Mora will provide expertise on security without letting the U.S. control Mexico’s strategy, Chabat said.